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T H E F R A N K L I N E X P E D I T I O N 463
" The Sehwatka expedition is memorable for having
achieved a very remarkable and almost unprecedented sledge
journey of over three thousand miles, i n course of which it
was absent from its base of operations eleven months and
twenty days. It is difficult to say which most to admire—
the daring of the plan or the s k i l l that wrought its success. It
was the first expedition which deliberately and systematically
placed its reliance for the support of its human members and
draught animals on the game resources of the country. It
was the first, moreover, i n which the white men lived almost
wholly on the same food as their Eskimo allies. So well and
thoroughly d i d i t do its work that we may venture the assertion
that probably not a single man of the F r a n k l i n expedition
now lies w i t h unbleached bones on the inhospitable snow— for
each a decent grave had been dug. Where nature had not
anticipated their efforts, or the retreating crews themselves
performed the last sad office, and paid the last sad tribute of
respect to their comrades, it was discharged by Lieutenant
Sehwatka and his companions. From the incomplete condit
i on of the skeletons, discovered, their inextricable confusion
and the wide area over which they were scattered, it was
difficult to compute with any certainty the number interred,
and while some estimated it as high as forty, others placed
i t is as low as seventeen.
" A n impenetrable shroud of mystery has forever descended
upon the latest struggle and sufferings of F r a n k l i n ' s
ill- fated crews. We can but think of them as wan and
haggard skeletons rather than men, dragging their slow steps
across the rough and difficult ice, growing fainter, feebler
every hour, and at last succumbing to the fatal influence of
the Arctic climate. No loving wife, mother or sister to
receive their last sigh— alone i n that fearfully depressing
Polar silence they passed away to the Great Beyond!"
A d m i r a l Sir Frederick Richards, R . N . , has stated that
comment on Schwatka's remarkable undertaking seemed
superfluous, for the reason, so far as he knew, it stood un-
30
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| Title | Page 486 |
| OCR | T H E F R A N K L I N E X P E D I T I O N 463 " The Sehwatka expedition is memorable for having achieved a very remarkable and almost unprecedented sledge journey of over three thousand miles, i n course of which it was absent from its base of operations eleven months and twenty days. It is difficult to say which most to admire— the daring of the plan or the s k i l l that wrought its success. It was the first expedition which deliberately and systematically placed its reliance for the support of its human members and draught animals on the game resources of the country. It was the first, moreover, i n which the white men lived almost wholly on the same food as their Eskimo allies. So well and thoroughly d i d i t do its work that we may venture the assertion that probably not a single man of the F r a n k l i n expedition now lies w i t h unbleached bones on the inhospitable snow— for each a decent grave had been dug. Where nature had not anticipated their efforts, or the retreating crews themselves performed the last sad office, and paid the last sad tribute of respect to their comrades, it was discharged by Lieutenant Sehwatka and his companions. From the incomplete condit i on of the skeletons, discovered, their inextricable confusion and the wide area over which they were scattered, it was difficult to compute with any certainty the number interred, and while some estimated it as high as forty, others placed i t is as low as seventeen. " A n impenetrable shroud of mystery has forever descended upon the latest struggle and sufferings of F r a n k l i n ' s ill- fated crews. We can but think of them as wan and haggard skeletons rather than men, dragging their slow steps across the rough and difficult ice, growing fainter, feebler every hour, and at last succumbing to the fatal influence of the Arctic climate. No loving wife, mother or sister to receive their last sigh— alone i n that fearfully depressing Polar silence they passed away to the Great Beyond!" A d m i r a l Sir Frederick Richards, R . N . , has stated that comment on Schwatka's remarkable undertaking seemed superfluous, for the reason, so far as he knew, it stood un- 30 |
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